Take me home
by Amber Dread
Summary: Set before the events of The Force Awakens... Rey hears a voice in her head the night her parents leave her with Unkar Plutt... AU drabble/Short


**Take Me Home**

 **'**

She heard the voice that first night, as she lay curled up under a threadbare blanket in a dark corner of Unkar Plutts yard. Her face was a sticky mess of tears and mucus, after having cried till she had nothing left inside her. Her chest ached with her grief and bewilderment, her shock and anguish.

They had left her. Abandoned her in this searing, alien wasteland. There had been no warning, no reason. Even though she had screamed for them, they had not turned back. Unkar had held her narrow wrist in his meaty hand, gripping it till it hurt her, till bruises bloomed beneath his flabby fingers.

She was lost.

Alone.

 _Tears are just a waste of salt, tiny one._

Rey blinked her red eyes, sitting up slightly to peer into the darkness. She could see no one. The voice was not Unkar's, nor anyone she had met on Jakku so far. It sounded kind.

 _You must be brave, you must be strong. I will come for you. Until then, you must survive_.

"You will come back for me?"

 _I will, in time. For now, you must look after yourself, but I know you can do it, Rey._

"Rey?"

 _That is the name I give you, tiny one. Use it, and be strong and brave and remember not to waste your salt again._

The voice made her feel hopeful and ashamed at the same time. She wiped her face, scrubbing away the mess as she made herself breathe normally again, pushing down her hiccuping sobs.

"I will wait," she told the voice, as determination lit a fire inside her, "I am Rey and I will wait."

 **'**

Over the next few years, Rey never wasted salt again. Even when she was injured, even when hunger seemed to gnaw through her stomach to her backbone, like some sort of animal lived inside her, even when she felt so alone it was hard to breathe, wondering if she even existed at all.

But she was strong and she was brave. She wriggled into the small dark places adults couldn't get to, used her little hands to grasp things beyond their reach, climbed things that their big bodies would weigh down. She was nimble and quick and clever.

At first her skin burned in the harsh sunlight, became sore and peeled, her hands blistered on the scrap metal heated by the merciless sun and her bones jutted out of her flesh from her the constant companion of hunger.

She improvised. Inspired by the Teedos, she carefully wrapped her arms in stips of cloth, fashioned herself gloves and used a thin length of material as a cowl and hood.

Her body adapted, somehow enduring the perpetual hunger and growing despite the meagre portions she had to eat.

Every now and then, when she was at her weakest, or lowest ebb, the voice would come again, assuring her that they would come for her, that she wasn't alone, that she mattered.

Rey came to realise that she didn't need other scavengers to survive. She seemed to have an affinity for finding valuable scrap and being able to fix things that seemed beyond repair or use things that appeared useless. And now she was bigger, harder, she struck out on her own.

Working alone meant she kept all the portions she earned for herself. She fashioned a staff and trained with it, learning to protect herself from rivals and predators.

 **'**

" _Rey_."

Rey was in Niima outpost, waiting in line to trade with Unkar at his concession stand when she heard someone say her name.

She turned, looking about her, yet no one there seemed to have said it, no one seemed to have heard it.

"Rey," it came again, it was _the_ voice, the one in her head, the companion who had sustained her spirit, helped her keep going and able to survive.

"I am here. Come to me, Rey."

For a moment she froze, unable or unwilling to believe that they had finally come for her, they were finally here.

"Do not be afraid, Rey. Come to me."

Her breathing hitched and her heart sped up as she looked around, trying to locate the owner of the voice.

"Reach out with your feelings, Rey. Follow them, and you will find me."

It was an odd instruction, but she closed her eyes and used the same sense that always led her to the best scrap, the most useful salvage.

 _There_ , to the east. Opening her eyes she left the queue without a backwards glance, walking quickly in the direction her senses told her to go, it felt almost as if she were following a thread, a narrow spool of string leading her away.

Her pulse was jumping and it felt like something fluttered in her chest cavity, she was nervous, afraid and excited all at once.

In the shade of the battered hull of the Corellian freighter that had stood outside Niima for years, stood a figure disguised in a long, grey cloak. Rey paused ten feet away, suddenly feeling unsure.

"Rey," the hood was drawn back by pale white hands, revealing purple eyes, set in a finely boned white face decorated with black markings, surrounded by long, white hair.

"My name is Jeinn Velas, my sisters and I have searched a long time to find you and bring you home."

Rey's throat tightened, her stomach clenched, "Home?" she stuttered.

Jeinn smiled, "Yes, tiny one, Rey. Come with me, if you wish for a better life," she held out her hand.

Rey took a deep breath, her years living in Jakku making her naturally cautious, even with the voice that had helped her carry on fighting to survive.

Jeinn's eyes were full of understanding, "Search your feelings, Rey. _Trust_ your instincts. I mean you no harm."

Rey shut her eyes again, pushing her extra sense out, brushing it against Jeinn… she spoke the truth.

Rey's eyes spilled over as she opened them once more, her first waste of salt in years. It didn't matter where Jeinn's home was, Rey couldn't remember where she rightly belonged anymore, a _place_ wasn't really a home, home was having people, belonging somewhere, with someone.

She reached out her hand and grasped Jienn's as she whispered brokenly, "Please, take me home."


End file.
